The Fandom Academy: Fanboys
by TheFandomAcademy
Summary: Fandom: fan·dom [fan-duhm] noun; "the realm of avid enthusiasts," And that's what this academy is- a realm for us, the fangirls and the fanboys, where we can finally fit in. But what happens when things start going crazy (more than usual, that is- it is a Fandom School after all) and suspicious behaviours and 4 12-year old boys are thrust in the middle of all of this? Utter chaos
1. Prologue-History

_**E's Note: **_

_***this will now be pasted on every chapter from now on***_

_**TFA Fangirls, or Fanboys, or Special Edition- whichever one you're reading, isn't the only one in this series/whatever you want to call them, we have TFA Fangirls, TFA Fanboys, and a Special Edition 5th year story as well. Go check them out! :) Thank you for reading our stories and we hope you liked them!**_

_**-E, C, F, N, B, L, H, L, Em**_

**The Fandom Academy**

**Brief History/Prologue:**

Once fangirls and fanboys craziness everywhere roamed free, and they suffered the consequences of being surrounded by emotion, constantly being judged by their fellows who didn't believe in such nonsense.

There were 4 friends at this time. A demigod, a wizard, an elf and a time lord. They decided to make a school that would not only let students get a basic education, but to let the truest fangirls and fanboys from each fandom imaginable finally be free to learn about their fandom. This academy would be in an old castle near England, off the west coast of Scotland. All four of the friends worked hard to secure an island in the sea, a place where time just does not exist and no monsters could come within distance to it. The castle was perched upon the lonely island surrounded by water on all sides, and the air around it was filled with fog, so no normal humans could see it. The witches and wizards inside the academy have put a spell on the island so only people who know about the academy could see the island and get in to the island by sailing there.

There is where our story is told.

Every year, 100 students were picked to attend TFA. 50 girls, and 50 boys. They each get a letter after their 12th birthday and a special adult chosen to go talk to their parents and prove it exists. The adult will then guide them to the train station on August 12. The train will then take them to a dock, with a huge ship. The first years will all get on the ship to go to TFA, and they learn more about how things work in the castle and its adjoining grounds and the classes. 7th years arrive in TFA in August 6th, and 6th years on August 7th, and so on, leading up to August 12 where the 1st years arrive. This is because there is only one ship, and one train leading to the academy. This story is of 4 young fanboys discovering that they're true place is at The Fandom Academy.

Please Rate, Review and Follow if you're interested! First Chapter, Callie, will be put up soon.

Follow us on twitter! - TFAWriters


	2. Chapter 1: Blake

**Blake Whitley**

**Quick Note From E: This story will be 4 fanboys, and they will be attending TFA at the same time as the girls, so introducing: Britte, and her character Blake. Yay *claps* **

_**E's Note: **_

_***this will now be pasted on every chapter from now on***_

_**TFA Fangirls, or Fanboys, or Special Edition- whichever one you're reading, isn't the only one in this series/whatever you want to call them, we have TFA Fangirls, TFA Fanboys, and a Special Edition 5th year story as well. Go check them out! :) Thank you for reading our stories and we hope you liked them!**_

_**-E, C, F, N, B, L, H, L, Em**_

"Blake. Cut your hair, for goodness' sake!"

"No, mum." I say, turning the pages of one of my books. "I'm not allowed to."

"Why not?" my mum replies, sighing and shaking her head. "Not one of your fanningdoms again."

"Mum, they're called fandoms." I say under my breath, irritated.

"So it is because of your fandoms!"

I stare at the written pages without reading anything. "It's not just a fandom. It's a lifestyle."

"They're just books!"

"MUM, ABNEGATION SAYS THAT I CAN ONLY CUT MY HAIR EVERY THREE MONTHS." I shout, trying to tell her that it is inescapably clear that I can't cut my hair so often.

"Don't you shout at me." My mum responds. She doesn't shout, which surprises me. No, she almost whispers it. It feels like the words are dripping down my back, and they make me shiver.

"Give me your books."

"No." I say, quickly collecting the books that lie on the dining room table, and protecting them with my hands.

"Give them to me. Now."

"NO! THEY'RE MINE!"

"Now, Blake Whitley. NOW!"

I run upstairs, books still clenched to my chest, and while taking my most precious books out of my bookcase I search for a bag big enough to put them in. As I close the bag, I take a bottle of water with me (which I left on my desk that morning), and an apple. I stampede down the stairs as my mum shouts: "DON'T YOU LEAVE THE HOUSE BLAKE." I'm already outside.

I run down the street, turn right and within a matter of time, I find myself surrounded by meadows, covered in some type of flower that I don't know by name. I climb a wooden fence and sit down in a corner, dropping my bag next to me.

My parents have been divorced since a couple of months ago, and my mum is suffering from a light depression at the moment. She doesn't understand what books mean to me. They're not just books. They're whole new worlds. Worlds you can escape to.

As I kick a dirt clod to the other side of the fence, I hear the sound of hooves. I quickly get up, and look in the direction the noise comes from. It's a rider – of course it is, silly, I tell myself.

There are lots of riders here. And still… I'd had this fandom-tingling in my stomach when I first caught a glimpse of him – and he's riding right towards me. He – or well, I think it's a he, he's got very long silver hair – comes closer and closer and soon I can recognize his face.

"Never!" I shout, almost laughing. This must be a prank. It's a prank. And still something inside me whispered that it wasn't.

"Who are you, shouting to me as you trample underfoot the fruits of this earth!"

My eyes widen and I laugh. I've never felt so happy before.

"I'm Blake!" I shout.

"Now, tell me Blake, how old are you?"

"Twelve." I respond, looking up at the man, but was it a man?

"Don't you think twelve is an extraordinary age?"

"Actually… No sir."

"Not an age on which unexpected events can take place?"

I'm searching the ages of all people in the books I've read… let me see… 9… 11… 16…

50…

"Not that I know."

"Well…" His sky-blue eyes investigate me from head to foot. I see that he's considering giving away the reason why he's here. "Do you know who I am, Blake?"

"Legolas Greenleaf." I whisper. "Son of Thranduil."

"That's right. I am Legolas. And I'm proud to announce you that you've been chosen to attend The Fandom Academy. You'll be going by boat on 12th of August. Here, take this piece of paper."

He searches in a bag and throws a thick, parchment envelope at me. "See you later."

"Alligator," I whisper but before I've reached the -r, Legolas has vanished into thin air.

What the heck was that?


	3. Chapter 2: Adam

_**E's Note: **_

_***this will now be pasted on every chapter from now on***_

_**TFA Fangirls, or Fanboys, or Special Edition- whichever one you're reading, isn't the only one in this series/whatever you want to call them, we have TFA Fangirls, TFA Fanboys, and a Special Edition 5th year story as well. Go check them out! :) Thank you for reading our stories and we hope you liked them!**_

_**-E, C, F, N, B, L, H, L, Em**_

A twig snaps behind me, and I spin around, reflexively going into a crouch and raising my gun. I pull the trigger, and there is a bang.

Tony stands there, looking surprised, for the briefest of seconds, then he bursts into tears and runs back towards the house, screaming.

I curse under my breath and stand up. "It's a cap gun, you idiot! You're perfectly fine!" I shout, waving the aforementioned cap gun in the air. Tony ignores me running straight up to the distant door and pounding on it with both of his fists. Tony's eight, four years younger than me, and he still acts like he's two.

The door opens, and I hold my breath for a second, hoping that the person answering the door will be Leo. Her, I can reason with.

No such luck. It's Aubrey. He looks out across the yard at me, and his eyes narrow. I point the cap gun at him, but as I pull the trigger, Aubrey is already running towards me. He's fifteen, three years older than me, and he's quite a bit stronger than I am. If he caught me, then I wouldn't stand much of a chance.

I look behind me, at the extensive collection of bushes that cover the back end of our yard. I could run, hide in the bushes. I've got enough of a head start that Aubrey would never find me. I could do that, and not get the pounding I know I will when Aubrey catches me.

Then I turn back towards Aubrey, shoving my cap gun into my pocket and raising my fists. If I ran, then I wouldn't be Dauntless. I'm going to stand and fight, even if I'm going to get my ass pounded.

Aubrey reaches me, and throws a punch at my face. I barely manage to duck, then I aim a punch at Aubrey's ribs that hardly grazes him. Aubrey's always looking for an excuse to hit me, and every time we get into one of these fights, he always airs his feelings about me and my obsessions.

"You wuss!" Aubrey shouts, kicking me in the shins. "You spend all your time writing fairy stories and running around out here pretending that you're badass! You're a sissy! You're a GIRL!"

I manage to block one of Aubrey's punches, then I clock him in the face. He grunts in surprise, putting one hand to his cheek. A surge of excitement washes through me- I actually managed to hurt him, for once!

I tackle Aubrey, and we both go down. We're both giving it all we've got, and that rush of adrenaline is numbing any pain that Aubrey tries to make me feel. The fact that I'm on top of him gives me an advantage, so we're actually about equal now, I think.

It doesn't last, of course. Aubrey throws me off, then jumps on top of me, pinning me to the grass. I keep fighting -because what would I be if I didn't?- but there's no question any longer; I've already lost.

Then, out of nowhere, a beam of light hits Aubrey in the ribs and he gets yanked up into the air by his left ankle, as if an invisible giant were dangling him six feet off the ground.

"How'd you manage to last so long, Adam?" Leo asks, walking closer. She's got her wand in one hand and a book in the other. "He normally pounds you right away."

"I've been practising." I say, although it's a miracle I manage to say that much- I'm pretty winded, thanks to Aubrey, and now that the adrenaline's wearing off, I'm really starting to hurt. Still, I stand up, trying to stand up straight and not fall over like I really, really want to.

"Hm." Leo says, then she stands there, watching Aubrey hang in the air with her head cocked to one side.

You'd never guess that Leo's our sister. Aubrey, Al, Tony and I are all stocky and blond like Dad, but Leo is tall and thin, and her hair is brown. Plus, Leo inherited Mom's temperament -quiet and thoughtful- while the rest of us all wound up acting like freaky psychopaths. I don't know if that's Dad's natural temperament, though. He's never home, so I have no idea what he's like.

"Leo, put me down." Aubrey says, folding his arms. "I want to pound our sissy brother again." Aubrey and Al always beat on me because I draw and read a lot and I love writing fanfictions. My current obsession is Divergent, and my bedroom walls are covered in artwork that I've made depicting the books.

"Aubrey, you are not going to hurt Adam again." Leo says firmly. "I came out to get him because there's a visitor who would really like to talk to him." Leo turns to me, while simultaneously pointing her wand at Aubrey. "You can go in to see your visitor. He's in the living room with Al."

As much as I would love to watch my sister jinx Aubrey again, I know not to mess with her. When she was twelve, she went off to this special school called the Fandom Academy, and she came back knowing how to do magic like the people in Harry Potter. She could probably turn me into a frog, if she wanted.

I jog back to the house, ignoring the pain from what will soon become bruises, all over my body. As I approach the house, I glare up at it; our house is big, and every time I look at it, I remember that my fantasies of being Dauntless or whatever are just that- fantasies. The house reminds me that I am Adam Cross, just a stupid spoiled rich kid. My dad is the businessman Leonard Cross, and even though he's never home, he's doing his best to spoil us rotten. My fear is that it's worked. I hate people thinking of me as a spoiled rich brat.

I go in the back door and kick off my shoes, then go to the living room. I could find it with my eyes closed, though; Al (his real name is Alastair, but he hits anyone who calls him that) is standing in the living room, shouting at the top of his lungs.

The target of Al's rant is a teenage girl, sitting on the couch and looking rather pissed off. She has blond hair and stormy grey eyes, and as soon as I see her, the bottom drops out of my stomach.

Before Divergent, I was obsessed with Percy Jackson and the Olympians- I still have most of the drawings I did during that period, and all of my fanfictions are saved on my laptop. I didn't imagine her exactly like this, but pretty damn close…

"Annabeth?" I ask, my voice squeaking. Annabeth, _here_…

She looks away from Al, who's stopped shouting out of sheer lack of breath. "Are you Adam? I'm here to let you know that you've been accepted to the Fandom Academy." she says.

My world starts spinning. The Fandom Academy? That place where Leo goes? Where I can be the fanboy I so want to be, without Aubrey and Al trying to beat it out of me?

I sit down on the floor with a thump, because that's better than actually falling over, which I was about to do. I put my face in my hands, trying to gain some measure of control over my brain, which is both screaming with happiness and sobbing in a corner, at the same time.

"Adam? Are you alright?" Annabeth asks, sounding worried.

I sit up, suddenly grinning from ear to ear. "Yes! Yes, I'm alright!" I pump one fist in the air and make a noise that would probably be best described as "Woo!"

"You're not going." Al growls, folding his arms. "This stupid sissy hobby of yours has already gone far enough. If you're ever going to help Dad's business, you can't waste time being a 'fanboy'."

"Well, maybe that's not what I want to do with my life." I say, glaring at Al. "I want to write, okay? I don't want to be an investor or whatever."

Al takes a step towards me, looking like he wants to pound me. Al is the oldest of us, and he seems to think that any rejection of his opinions constitutes a threat to his authority. Basically, he's a jerk.

"Al, please don't. Adam already got beaten up by Aubrey." Leo walks in, holding her wand in plain sight. Al looks livid, but he knows just as well as the rest of us that Leo's the one who's really in charge now.

Leo turns to Annabeth. "Ms. Chase, could we have Adam's registration papers please?"

Annabeth hands Leo a package of papers, then -after looking everyone in the room directly in the eye- she vanishes, leaving nothing but air where she had been sitting a few moments ago.

"Bloody hell." Al swears. Leo, still holding my papers, turns and leaves the room. I run after her, snatching the papers out of her hands as soon as I get the chance.

I scan the sheets over, and my heart sinks when I realize how many places there are for a parent's signature. Mom died years ago, so the only parent we have is Dad, and he's never home. He lives in the city, where his work is, and the only adult in the house is Myra. I don't know what her title is, but Dad hired her to supervise the lot of us, and he has no idea that she leaves us to our own devices all the time.

"Adam? Do you need any help?" Leo asks me. She always says that I'm her favourite, although I can't for the life of me figure out why. Tony's the baby of the house, but he's probably mentally scarred from dealing with me and Al and Aubrey fighting all the time. Still, Tony's supposed to be everyone's favourite, and let's be honest- I'm really not very likeable.

"Nah, I'm good." I say. "Just keep those nutters-" I jerk my head back towards the living room. "-off my back so I can get into this academy. I really don't want them stealing the forms while I sleep, or something." To be honest, though, Leo's my favourite out of all of us, possibly because she's the most like me.

Leo frowns. "How are you going to get Dad to sign those forms?" she asks.

I shrug. "I'll phone Dad up and tell him that I've found a boarding school that'll take me for free, and that I won't try to get myself expelled like I've done for every fancy private school Dad's ever tried to put me in." I answer. "He won't be able to resist."

Leo nods like I've got a point, then walks off down the hallway. As soon as she's out of sight, I run up to my bedroom on the second floor, slam the door behind me, then throw myself onto the bed and shove my face into a pillow so that I can scream without anyone hearing.

I'm going to the Fandom Academy!

Well, barring any brother-related disasters, of course…


	4. Chapter 3: Joe

_**E's Note: **_

_***this will now be pasted on every chapter from now on***_

_**TFA Fangirls, or Fanboys, or Special Edition- whichever one you're reading, isn't the only one in this series/whatever you want to call them, we have TFA Fangirls, TFA Fanboys, and a Special Edition 5th year story as well. Go check them out! :) Thank you for reading our stories and we hope you liked them!**_

_**-E, C, F, N, B, L, H, L, Em**_

I, Joe Walker, have a problem.

No one, I repeat, no one, came to my birthday party.

Sure, I'm twelve years old. I weighed out my options, and realised that maybe having a birthday party at my age is not exactly the cool thing to do.

But I take pride in not knowing what's cool. That's probably why I have no friends.

Okay, there's Charlie. But Charlie doesn't always count, not in my eyes. But we sat next to each other in orientation, then Charlie sat next to me in the first class, and before I knew it, BAM! We're friends.

I set up the party yesterday morning, so it was ready in time for the afternoon. Put up streamers, set up food, even the gross Korean stuff that Mum wanted. Like, ew?! Who wants to eat noodles and soup for afternoon tea? Not me! And definitely not anyone from school. Besides, Mum can't cook to save her life. Literally. The kitchen's almost burnt down more than once and it was my quick thinking that saved us, not the Korean "delicacies".

Of course, I'm only half Korean. Mum's full born and blooded, but even though she hasn't grown up in Korea, never even been to Korea, she still considers it her heritage. Which means weird food for dinner, every day.

That's the deal. I choose food for lunch, Mum chooses food for dinner. But since the party was afternoon tea, Mum had insisted on half-half. "Maybe that's why they didn't come to my birthday party," I mused. "Maybe someone told them there was gonna be strange food."

_Or maybe_, said the voice in the back of my head, _it was because you didn't invite them. When you post a letter, Joe, you need to put a stamp on it_. That's right, I remember now. I'm bankrupt, so when sending out the letters I could only afford one stamp. That letter went to my friend Charlie, and Charlie couldn't come anyway, due to suddenly coming down with the chicken pox.

Lying on my bed, just as the sun began to peek through his blinds, I realised I had to get up sometime. I spoke aloud. "Oh well. The party was yesterday. No one came. I'll get over it." I sighed. "This pep talk sucks. Okay, get up now. Come on, foot, snap awake! It's morning. Get up! Maybe school today won't be so bad. Maybe, she'll fiiinally acknowledge your existence."

I yawned, stretched, and pulled myself out of bed. I walked downstairs for breakfast, with dreamy and maybe slightly inappropriate thoughts of the irresistible fiery year 10 that I was hopelessly crushing on.

"Hey dude, what's up?"

"Hey, Charlie." I slammed down my food onto the almost deserted lunch table. "Aren't you so glad we don't have a cafeteria in our school?"

Charlie rolled his eyes. "Yeah, Joe, I know. You tell me that. Every. Day."

I ignored him. "Yeah, well, it's true! I mean, look at all those American movies-"

"Like Mean Girls?" Charlie interrupted.

"Mean Girls?" I frowned. "What's that- what would I know about Mean Girls? What do you know about Mean Girls?"

"Um, nothing." Charlie didn't meet my eyes. "Go on." He opened his lunchbox, and took out the sandwich.

"Where was I?"

"The American movies."

"Oh yeah. Well, in American movies the schools always have a cafeteria run by grumpy old fat ladies, and they serve food made out of slop. Like, actually. It slops. Onto the tray. And then it slops on the way into their mouth. And then it slops and slithers down their e-so-pha-gus."

"E-so-pha-gus?'

"The oesophagus," I explained. "And then it slips into their stomach. Then it churns round and round and round and finally-"

Charlie held up his hand, effectively silencing me. "Dude. Thanks, but no thanks. I know where the food goes next. And besides, I'm eating." He bit into one half of his sandwich.

I bought out his own lunch, delicious non-Korean food. A perfectly normal chicken egg salad. Minus the lettuce. I hate lettuce.

"Anyway," I said, "I'm just so happy we live in Australia, go to an Australian school, in fact, we're here right now-"

"You don't say."

"-And just have a canteen instead of cafeteria. All sorts of bad things happen in a cafeteria. See, isn't this courtyard lovely?" With this, I threw my hands up in the air, forgetting I was holding the chicken salad.

The contents flew over the brick pavement, salad and all, and then splatted onto the pastel blue school building, one of the maths classrooms, to be exact. Mayonnaise and dressing slid down the wall.

"Don't you dare."

Charlie looked up, stifling a laugh. "I wasn't going to say anything! I swear!"

I crossed my arms, and looked away.

Charlie sighed. "Want half my sandwich?"

"Thanks."

"Hey, is that her?" Charlie pointed across the yard, towards a tall redhead coming out of the canteen.

I looked over. "Oh, yeah. Baby," I sighed dreamily. "Isn't she great?"

Charlie wasn't amused. "Remind me again, who is she?"

"Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Tenth grade. Came to our school two days ago. Fiery red hair, about maybe…170 centimetres. Totally out of my league, but you know," I sighed again. "Who knows?"

"O-o-okay then…that name sounds familiar though…" Charlie speculated, but then realised I hadn't even heard him. "Look, dude. You can't just sweep her away. You haven't even talked to her, have you?"

"Well, no, but-"

"And she's what- sixteen? Sixteen, Joe! That's four years older than you. Four!"

"Four years won't mean nothing when we're legally married."

"What the hell?! Where did that come from?" Charlie demanded.

"It came from my-"

"And stop with the creepy accent!"

Meanwhile, Rachel Elizabeth Dare crossed the yard and sat down at a table about fifteen metres away.

Charlie took a quick breath. "And besides, you only turned twelve yesterday, on Sunday. So really, it's probably closer to a five year difference."

I wasn't listening to a word he said.

"Honestly, I've probably got a better chance than you. I turned 13 in April. And you turned 12 in June, which is literally the youngest you're allowed to be in year seven. Are you even listening? I'm talking to myself, aren't I?"

No response. I was busy ogling the fiery older girl. Charlie sighed.

"Hey, Joe, your salad slid down the wall and landed on Marie-Rose. She's shooting you angry glares," Charlie tried.

Silence.

"Holidays are in ten days." He tried a different tactic. "No school for two weeks. Aren't you excited?"

Silence.

Charlie rolled his eyes. "I think Rachel looked at you."

"Really?!" I asked excitedly.

"No! I was just trying to get your attention. Geez, is that what it takes?" Charlie said. "Anyway, I was just saying that since you had your birthday yesterday, you're even younger then you think you are."

"Birthday? Oh yeah…" I trailed off, and started thinking. "Hang on, didn't you say you had come down with the chicken pox? And that's why you couldn't come to the party, hmm?" I narrowed my eyes.

"Whaaat?" Charlie said, way too loudly. "Don't be ridicu- Did I say the chicken pox? I meant, um, a cold. Achoo." Charlie looked as awkward as a deer trapped in the headlights.

"The flu. Really."

"Yep!" Charlie crossed his arms. "Really. But I've had a miraculous discovery, so I'm good now."

"You are, are you?"

"Uh-huh. As well as a whale."

I frowned. "I don't think that's a saying."

"It is now."

"You are so stubborn, you know that?"

"No I'm not." Charlie paused. "Oh wait."

Just as we were speaking, Rachel Elizabeth Dare stood up, and walked out of the courtyard, obviously finished eating.

I glared at Charlie. "Now look what you've done!"

"What? How does that even- How is that my fault?"

"Chill out, dude. I was just joking," I laughed. "So, why'd you skip the party?"

"Hey, I wasn't-" I gave Charlie The Look. "Okay, maybe. Come on, it's embarrassing to be seen in public with you, okay? And if anyone actually turned up, it would've just been really awkward. I don't do awkward moments."

"I was alone." I stated. "All. Alone."

"Look, I'm sorry."

"By myself. ALONE."

"I won't do it again. Sorry, again. You know I wouldn't ditch you if it was something actually important. Like, moving schools or something."

I smiled. "Yeah, I know. Don't worry, I wouldn't ditch you either."

We both looked at each other for a moment, our lunch forgotten.

Charlie rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay, can we stop now? This is getting awkward. I'm not good with heart to heart moments."

I laughed. "Yeah, me neither. But remember, it's only awkward when you make it awkward!" I sang.

"Yeah, that might be true. But you just made it awkward."

Students began finishing their lunch. All around us, the chatter of the playground never ceased.

"She's just not your type, you know." Charlie stated, referring to Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

"Oh, then who is? Someone non-Korean? RACIST!" I cried.

Charlie held up his hands in mock-surrender. "Hey, that's not what I meant!" He smiled. "I just meant someone you know, a bit more muscular? Like me, perhaps?"

I snorted. "Pfft, of course. Because you totally work out every day."

Charlie grinned. "Yes, I do." Then he thought for a moment. "Hey, I thought you weren't fully Korean."

"I'm not. Only Mum is."

"Then what about your dad?"

"He's, uh, oh right, I forget you've never met him." I paused, thinking whether to say the next part or not. "Don't feel bad, I haven't either."

"What do you...?" Suddenly Charlie realised. "Oh."

I nodded. "Yeah."

"I- I'm sorry, mate."

"Don't be." I shrugged. "As I said, I've never met him, so there's nothing for me to be missing/ Mum won't really talk about him. But, I'm pretty sure he just took off."

Charlie swallowed, and reach for his sandwich, then remembered he'd finished it earlier. "Why didn't...why didn't you tell me earlier? We've known each other since the beginning of high school, which is like half a year."

I shrugged again. "It never came up. Anyway, uh, mum mentioned once that he was Australian."

"Technically he's English." Charlie stated.

"What?"

"I said, technically he's English." Charlie saw the opportunity to change subject, so he took it gladly. "You know? We did this in history."

"We did?"

"Yeah." Charlie rolled his eyes. "Oh that's right, I forgot. You don't listen in history. You sleep."

I smiled. "You got me."

"Anyway, what I was saying. Australia was colonised in the 1700's by the English. Before that, the Aboriginals had been there for thousands of years. So technically, the Aboriginals are really Australians. The rest of us, are just however-many-generation English. That makes you half-Korean and half-English."

"English?" I screwed up my face. "Gross. I don't wanna belong to England, all it does there is rain."

Charlie laughed. "Yeah, true."

"Who would wanna live there?" I folded his arms. "Not me, at least. I'm happy staying in Australia for the rest of my life."

And with that, the bell went. We both stood up, packed up our lunch, and started towards class.

"Pssst."

Students bustled down the hallway. Walking and weaving, the small and rather crowded school corridors were more like trying to navigate through Asian traffic than just walking down a hallway. It was so bad, the teachers expected us to be at least five minutes late to class each day.

And I could've just sworn that someone had tried to whisper to me.

I whipped his head around, accidentally elbowing a senior. "Year sevens'," she said, clearly frustrated, but luckily she kept moving.

Had someone tried to say something to me? I cocked my ear, listening for more, but there was nothing. I kept walking, almost at the maths classroom.

"Pssst. Hey, Joe." I frowned. So I definitely heard something. I turned around, but no one was paying me any attention.

"Hey Charlie, did you hear something?" I asked.

"Hear what?"

"Uh, never mind."

Charlie looked slightly concerned, but didn't say anything.

And then suddenly the mysterious voice spoke again, barely louder than a whisper. "Joe. Joe Walker. I'm talking to you. Pay attention!" It sounded like a girl's voice, which was strange. No girl would ever be caught talking to me.

And was it...? No, it couldn't be. It couldn't be coming from the nearby cupboard. That was ridiculous.

"Charlie, keep going without me." I decided. "I'll be along in a second. Save me a seat."

"What?" Charlie asked. "Okay, but hurry up. You don't want to be too late. It's maths with Ms. Sunshine, and you know how angry she gets." Charlie looked like he was going to say more, but before he could he was bustled away by the never-ending crowd of students.

I started towards the cupboard. Sure, this was ridiculous but I had to try, right? If nothing more than just to prove I wasn't going crazy.

In hindsight, maybe it was a bad idea. Now I look back on it as the incident that started everything

I felt the handle of the cupboard, took a deep breath, and then looked around. No one was looking at me, they were all just trying to get to class.

I opened it, and before I could say another word, slim hands reached out and grabbed my arms, quickly pulling me into the dark, dark closet. A cloth covered my mouth, and in a few dizzy moments, the world turned to black.

I woke up to someone staring down at me.

"Hello? Oh good, you're awake." The hazy figure (girl?) said. I blinked a couple of times; my vision was all weird. "Whew, thank god. I thought I'd killed you." She laughed nervously. "Sorry, I'm still new to this."

I just looked at her, my brain still messed up so I didn't catch a word she said. Slowly, I realised I was lying on the ground. Her features came into focus: red-brown frizzy hair, and green eyes. Oh yeah, the year ten girl. Then suddenly my brain registered what she'd said.

"Wait, whaa? Ya keeled me? I don geddit." I stumbled over the words. Oh god, I sounded like I was drunk. My tongue was swollen, although I didn't know why.

"Yeah, sorry. Chiron said I had to get you alone somehow, and since you're always with that other kid it proved difficult. Sorry about the, you know, chemical cloth over mouth though. Don't worry, the side-effects will lessen after a few days."

My head was still woozy, so I didn't register everything she said. "Kai-ron? Who's that?" Then I frowned, and suddenly I was wide awake. "Wait! Did you say side-effects?"

The girl waved a hand dismissively. "Don't worry, it's not that bad. Oh! I forgot to introduce myself." She stuck out a hand. "Hi, I'm Rachel Elizabeth Dare! Nice to meet you."

I slowly put my hand out too, thinking she was going to shake it, but instead she pulled me up into a standing position. "Joe Walker," I said, "But I think you already knew that." Then my brain made the connection. "Rachel Elizabeth Dare? Oh, I know you. You're that tenth grader girl." I didn't dare say anything else. "Hold on, where are we? And why did you drag me into a closet?!" I demanded.

I looked around for the first time. Exercise mats lay in one corner, and the room was large enough for a game of basketball. The only windows were up high, and then I realised.

"This is your gym," Rachel confirmed. "And I bought you here because, how do I put this… well, you're not entirely normal."

"I'm perfectly normal!" I protested.

"Really? The two lumps on your head?" She asked.

I put my hand on my head and felt the two stumps, hidden under my hair. "Results of a near fatal bathtub accident," I said, repeating what mum's told me. I don't remember it, but it happened when I was young. Don't ask.

"And the fact that you can't run properly? That your feet are shaped weirdly?" The way Rachel spoke was like a rapid-fire machine gun, constantly shooting questions at him.

"I was born with a missing bone in both feet." I said. How come she knew so much about me? This was just weird.

Rachel Elizabeth Dare's expression suddenly softened, as if she were regretting what to say next.

"I don't know how to say this, but…" She took a deep breath. "You're not just half Asian, Joe. You're half goat."

For a moment I couldn't say anything. Okay, this girl was officially crazy.

"I know you don't believe me, Joe. But just take off your shoes, and look at your feet. Like, actually look."

I was annoyed, angry, even. Who did this girl think she was? First she kidnaps me, then makes fun of my feet, then insults my vision. There was no way I had a crush on her anymore.

But I took off my shoes, anyway. I wanted to prove her wrong. And you know, there might have been that teeny, eeny doubt…

"Fine. But don't think I believe you for one second." I said.

I kicked off my shoes, and peeled off my socks. Okay, so my feet were a bit weird-looking, they were more of a round, stumpy shape than everyone else's. But that didn't mean they were anything to gawk at.

I stared back at Rachel. "See? They're normal."

She sighed. "No, really look. Pretend your toes are an illusion, and your feet aren't really there."

I rolled my eyes, but tried it anyway. And then, suddenly, they began to flicker. My eyes opened wide, as if I were seeing a whole other world. And as I watched, my feet disappeared altogether.

And two mud brown hooves were in their place.

Disbelievingly, I reached my hand down and fingered the hooves. Yes, you heard correctly. Like the ones on a cow. My legs were hairier than I remembered too, almost…shaggy. Like the ones on a goat.

"What the hell is wrong with me…?" I whispered quietly. I looked up at Rachel, her eyes were nothing but pity.

"What in the holy flipping hell is wrong with me?" I half-shouted. "I'm a goat from the waist down. How could I not know this?!"

"The term's satyr, actually." Rachel corrected. "And it's the Mist. It keeps things hidden from mortal eyes, including things to do with your very own self. You believed you were mortal, so the Mist made you believe you were mortal."

"What do you mean, mortal?!" I asked. "And what's this 'mist' stuff that you're talking about?!" I shouted.

Rachel looked at me pointedly. "You'll find out soon enough."

Suddenly, footsteps stomped by outside. Rachel froze. The door squealed open, and someone walked in. Hidden in the shadows, we couldn't be seen, unless the stranger decided to take a better look.

"Joe?" The stranger said. "Are you in here? I thought I heard voices."

I relaxed, well, sort-of. It was just Charlie.

Rachel mouthed the words, 'You know him?' I nodded, but didn't move. He couldn't see me like this.

Charlie walked into sight, looked to the left and then to right, and (damn it) spotted me. "Oh, thank god. Dude, Ms Sunshine's flipping out. She hates when anyone skips, and you've been gone for at least half the lesson-" His eyes widened when he saw Rachel. "No way. No freaking way."

Despite the fact I was in shock, I frowned. "What?" Charlie hadn't seen my feet yet, had he?

"That's…that's Rachel Elizabeth Dare," Charlie said. "You know, from Percy Jackson? Those books I've been trying to get you to read for ages! Oh my god, this is awesome! I knew her name sounded familiar."

I pretended nothing was wrong. I didn't want Charlie finding out about me, when I'd only just found out today. "Oh…so this is all real, huh?"

Rachel nodded. "Sorry, but yeah."

Charlie looked confused. "What do you mean, this is all real?"

I wanted to run, but I couldn't. He'd notice. Rachel looked down at my feet.

Charlie followed her lead, and then his eyes widened. "No way!" He grinned. "That is beyond cool! Joe, you're a satyr?"

"What? No! I mean, yes, apparently." I corrected. "But that's not cool!"

Charlie gave me a duh look. "Yeah it is! Like…god, I would give almost anything to be in your position right now! That's awesome. So, what happens now? Are you-"He addressed Rachel "-Taking him to Camp Half-Blood, or what?"

My head was spinning. "Wait, what? What's this camp thingy?"

Rachel completely ignored me. "No, Joe's a special case. Usually satyrs come to collect the demi-gods, but he's not a demi-god, and that would've been awkward, anyway. He's…okay Joe, here's another shock." She paused. I didn't like the sound of it. "Usually satyrs – half human, half goat, they're from Greek mythology if you're wondering – are the spawn of another satyr and say, a wind spirit."

"So…mum's a wind spirit, then?" I suddenly realised, mum must have known what I was. Why didn't she tell me?

"Uhh, no." Rachel fidgeted uncomfortably. "Thing is, we did some background checks, and your mother is completely human."

I didn't want to hear what she was saying next.

"Which means…your dad is a goat."

I was almost so shocked that I didn't realise Rachel was still talking.

"Don't ask me how it happened, okay? I don't know, and I don't want to know."

Charlie just stood there in shock, and then slowly started mouthing 'so awesome' over and over again.

"But anyway," Rachel said, "we can't take you to camp, like we would with everyone else. You don't really fit in, since you're so…different." I got the feeling she was about to say something else. "Instead, there's this boarding school called The Fandom Academy. Now, it's not ideal, and since you're not a fanboy you might find it a bit strange, but…sooner or later monsters would come after you, and apart from camp it's really the only safe place."

Charlie was dumbfounded. "What about me?!"

"Sorry, but you're just a mortal. Nothing special." Rachel said.

"So are you!" He protested.

"Yeah, but I'm the oracle." She smiled. "Sorry again, I didn't mean for you to get caught up in this, but I guess you deserve to know why your friend is moving to England."

I couldn't think straight. "What?!"

"Yeah, that's where The Fandom Academy is located. Enjoy your last ten days of term, cause when it's over you'll be on a plane to Britain." She winked. "Oh yeah, and here's your letter of acceptance. See ya later, Joe."

Rachel threw an envelope to me, and I fumbled to catch it. When I looked up, she was gone.

And BAM! – That's the moment when my life changed. For better or worse, I was still to find out.


End file.
